


Hold

by Archaeopteryx



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Autistic Pearl, F/F, Nonbinary Character, tactile comfort and texture stimming w/ ur gf's dress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 09:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5703055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archaeopteryx/pseuds/Archaeopteryx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl has anxiety; Rose Quartz is always there to help em through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold

**Author's Note:**

> the gems are nb i don't make the rules
> 
> self-indulgent comfort thing I wrote when I was stressed

“It’s okay, Pearl.”

Rose offers eir hand; Pearl takes it. The humid heat of Rose’s skin, so different from Pearl’s deep-ocean cold, radiates through Pearl, seeping through eir shoulders and spinal substructure, out into the motor structures of eir lower back. Ey steps into Rose’s arms, and melts against the curve of eir belly. Rose’s hands, heavy and warm, lace over eir back.

“You’re safe, my Pearl.”

Ey hiccups and cracks a smile at the honorific. Rose hums, nothing but honest sincerity. Rose means every word she says, and it is one of the many, many reasons Pearl loves em. Rose speaks to Pearl with the honor reserved for peers and superiors, because Rose loves em, but more importantly, Rose respects em, values eir counsel and eir skills; because Pearl is Pearl, not White’s or Pink’s or any Diamond’s nor any other Gem’s, no one’s but eir own.

Pearl’s hands twitch, finding the imaginary shape of hilts. Ey shakes off the memory and twists eir hands in Rose’s skirts instead. The texture is marvelous, modelled on human inventions, smooth satin edged in intricate lace. Textiles, in Pearl’s opinion, are one thing that make this planet worth protecting.

Ey sighs, letting go of the last of eir anxiety. “I’m safe,” ey echoes, smiling shakily. Ey’s perfectly capable of protecting emself, but it’s nice to know ey doesn’t have to. Ey likes the thought, and holds onto it long enough to joke, “You’ll protect me, of course.”

It’s a joke only in that it is implictly true, making the statement redundant, and that is Pearl’s favorite kind of joke.

Rose chuckles, a soft vibration that ripples through eir projection, and sweeps Pearl low to kiss eir Gem. “Whatever you command, my Pearl,” ey murmurs in the gentle voice that makes Pearl go weak in the knees. Pearl laughs, tucking eir chin against the blue coloring eir cheeks, and presses eir Gem to Rose’s forehead. Rose’s eyes are black, black, black as the space between stars, and just as spatious and filled with potential, and so soft that Pearl loses eir breath and forgets eir words when ey meets them.

“I command … ” ey breathes, when ey can speak again. Ey bites eir lip, hunting for something in the mass of options that will properly balance playfulness and closeness without crossing a line. “ … that you keep holding me, like this, until you want to stop.”

Rose laughs, tossing eir head back in a spray of curls. “I hope you’re ready to be here for a while,” ey says, grinning.

Pearl grins back. “Nothing in the stars sounds better.”


End file.
